Audio Tape Collection Acquired - What next?

Medeoker

New Member
Oct 26, 2015
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Hi everyone,

I hope you have patience with me as I'm a novice when it comes to this type of thing.

I have recently come across a collection of a recording studio's original master tapes consisting of many different artists (some well known, others not so much.) Many of the tapes are Ampex 456 and 499 grand master reels. I have roughly 100+ different master and I'm looking to see where would the best place to sell them would be? Is there a market for this stuff? Or will people generally be only interested in purchasing the used tapeto record over? If even that? I'm attaching a few images of one of the tapes I have for reference. Any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

20151026_173745.jpg 20151026_173758.jpg 20151026_173832.jpg 20151026_173903.jpg
 

rockitman

Member Sponsor
Sep 20, 2011
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Northern NY
How about a detailed list of all the titles ?
Short of this site, eBay would be a good place. Have you personally heard any of these tapes on a RTR deck ? Are you in to high end audio ? If the tapes are what you say they are and are desirable titles, you will not have any trouble selling them.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
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These are tapes from Ringling Bros. Circus acts. Doubt that they are anything of value if the rest are the same.
 

Medeoker

New Member
Oct 26, 2015
3
0
0
How about a detailed list of all the titles ?
Short of this site, eBay would be a good place. Have you personally heard any of these tapes on a RTR deck ? Are you in to high end audio ? If the tapes are what you say they are and are desirable titles, you will not have any trouble selling them.


Thank you for your reply. No, I am not into high end audio; I'm doing research for my father-in-law who acquired them at a storage auction. He also got a few decks out of the deal that he has since sold. We were able to listen to a few of the albums before the decks were sold, so we can confirm they are accurate and of good quality.

Because there are so many albums, we have not cataloged them all. I will be working to do that sometime in the next week or two. I have considered selling on eBay, but I wanted to make sure there weren't any specific places where collectors reside that would make a better option. I wasn't aware that this site could be used as a platform for selling audio (that was not my goal of posting here, but I'm happy to know it is an option.)

As far as other albums, I only have a few in my possession at the moment. I have a few of the Ringling Bro's, an album from the Backstreet boys from the late 90's, and an album by Steven Seagal (the actor), so I would figure there could be room for potential interest here.

I'm happy to hear any advice you all have to offer on what my next steps should be. Thanks again for your time!
 

Medeoker

New Member
Oct 26, 2015
3
0
0
These are tapes from Ringling Bros. Circus acts. Doubt that they are anything of value if the rest are the same.

Thank you Amir,

The albums are from various different artists and music styles. I thought the Ringling Bro's album was interesting so that's the one I took a picture of. What types of audio masters do you see as holding the most value?
 

Curt Palme

Well-Known Member
Jan 25, 2012
86
1
83
Thank you Amir,

The albums are from various different artists and music styles. I thought the Ringling Bro's album was interesting so that's the one I took a picture of. What types of audio masters do you see as holding the most value?

Im late to the table here, but I think you may run into massive copyright issues here. Granted, you got them from a storage locker (score!), but I`m not sure if you`re allowed to sell them. Others here would know more than I do about that I`d think.`

You may also want to contact Tape Project. www.tapeproject.com. Dan is a great guy, and might be interested in the masters. Failing that, if you PM me, I have another post here showing a bunch of pix from the University of Santa Barbara, where they digitize old recordings. I have the contact info there if you PM me. As with the Tape Project, they are probably more interested if you`d be willing to donate some of the tapes, as at least the USB is not a profit making organization (I believe).
 

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